


Forever Lost

by t_shirt



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Mild Lemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22728163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_shirt/pseuds/t_shirt
Summary: When a lone soldier finds himself stranded with his enemy he discovers the road to peace sometimes leads through the wilderness of the heart.More old fluff'n'stuff ^-^
Relationships: 1x2 - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Forever Lost

Forever Lost  
AU/Romantic Adventure  
1x2  
Angst, fluff, mild lemon

Summary: When a lone soldier finds himself stranded with his enemy he discovers the road to peace sometimes leads through the wilderness of the heart.

I was sorely disappointed. Finding myself stranded on a deserted moon hell and away from my home was not how I’d thought my military career would end. There was little reason to expect a rescue since most, if not all of my squadron had been annihilated before I was forced to abandon the fight and crashed down in the rocky formations along a primeval forest that resembled something out of a Jules Verne novel. 

Regardless, the first order of business was survival, so I packed what I could salvage from my wrecked suit and headed into the relative safety of the trees. It was unsettling to think of what might live beyond the odd looking shrubbery, but standing around in the open was never a good idea. It was comforting to find a small group of primates during my first day. Their presence confirmed that the small planetoid was livable and gave me a means by witch to determine what fruits and berries might be eatable. 

They were curious creatures with long, white beards and small bodies only half as long as my own, so I didn’t feel they were a threat. Their fur was odd being light blue and all but absent from their chests and bellies, which was something that disturbed my sense of modesty when confronted with the female’s naked bosoms. By the end of the first week my mind had dubbed them burbles because of their resemblance to bubbles caught in the limbs and the odd burping sound they made when resting in the trees. I liked them for the most part because they helped me identity food and though they could get quite noisy at times at least I wasn’t completely alone. 

I’d managed to build a small shelter within the first couple of weeks that kept me dry though the forest was apparently in its wet season and seemed intent on drowning me regardless. I still had my gear and had discovered the sap of one of the larger trees was a good source of fuel when lightening hit one and it burned with righteous intent throughout the night despite the rain. This provided the means to both protect my temporary home from predators which I had so far been mercifully spared from meeting and provided warmth and a means to cook a meal. 

If only I had something to cook. 

I was a month into my imprisonment when I realized the burbles might be the best option to provide meat to my table and sulked for two days before I finally gave in and set a trap. They were actually very pretty and I hated the thought of killing them, but man cannot live on…whatever that sticky yellow fruit they ate was. I just called it stink fruit because it smelled as bad as the burbles after a rain. They’re clever, but curious and after having spent the past month living along side me appeared to trust me enough to investigate my sin. I felt so bad about deceiving them I almost shouted when a youngster triggered the trap and screamed when the door snapped shut sending its fellows scurrying for the shadows. I paused when I came near feeling my heart sink into my toes while I watched the little thing shiver and cry behind the tethered bars. 

“Damn it,” I sighed pulling my knife as I approached and my brow wrinkled with utter disgust while the burble screeched and flailed about. “Be still,” I growled unable to comprehend where my good sense had gone while I cut the tethers and sighed when it scampered into the underbrush.

There was a moment in which I stood and allowed myself to feel utterly foolish for having released my only means of protein, but the self indulgence fled as quickly as fear gripped my heart when dead silence descended and I felt a shift in the air that could only have been caused by something very big. 

A glance into the trees confirmed the absolute absence of not only the burbles, but any other creature of remote intelligence and I felt the hairs stand up on my arms when a low growl brushed over my skin. 

“Shit,” I breathed unable to move more than enough to grip my knife while my eyes scanned the bushes, but even in the late afternoon I couldn’t see anything, then my heart jumped into my throat when a massive snout parted the brush and I was introduced to what I would later discover was the largest predator on the moon. 

It was massive standing as tall as an elephant, but there was nothing dossal about it. Great fangs adorned its mouth, which opened not only vertically but horizontally as well. It resembled a flower except for the fact that it appeared to want to eat me and considering the six inch claws on its front paws I had a pretty good idea it wasn’t going to settle for a nibble or two. My knife suddenly felt horrible inadequate, so I turned tail and ran just as fast as my little Duo feet would carry me. 

I realized fairly quickly it behaved something like a cat while it played with me heading me this way, then that. It was incredibly fast making it easy for it to get in front of me which forced me to turn only to run into it again some distance further on. I was exhausted in short order as the fear and frantic flight stole my energy away until I found myself kneeling in a clearing gritting my teeth while I stared into it’s beetle black eyes. 

“You wanna play?” I panted having lost patience with the entire ordeal. “Go find a tinkle ball!” I shouted launching myself at it only to be denied when a figure dropped from the trees and the beasts horrific death cry split the air when several laser blasts opened the back of its skull before it thudded lifeless to the ground. 

I had been thrown free of the struggle, but was acutely aware of the presence of another human in the clearing, which brought with it hatred as well as fear. The Japon were not known for their tolerance of others, but when I tried to rise my leg gave out revealing the presence of a long gash in my upper, right thigh. I glanced at where he was gathering himself from the ground, the dust from the struggle still heavy in the air, but it wasn’t enough to conceal his strong build. He wasn’t much bigger than me, but we all knew they had enhanced themselves during their long separation. He was also better armed, but there was no way I was going down without a fight, so I force my leg under me and stood to face my fate. 

When he turned to face me I couldn’t help noting that he was quite beautiful though that was no surprise. In the thousand years his people had been lost in the farthest reaches of space they had honed every appealing aspect of themselves to utter perfection. They were a strong, beautiful and deadly race that had, at some point, come to believe they were akin to gods. At least that’s the feeling I got every time I faced them in battle and I have to admit they were, on the hole, damn annoying. Mankind had never faced an enemy like them before. They were the epitome of everything desirable about humans, strong and lean and they were immune to most if not all sickness and disease. It was the goal of their ancestors to create a breed of humans that were perfect in every way and it looked like they’d managed to come close in a lot of ways except for that whole desire to annihilate the rest of us. 

It seemed that while they were out there honing and conditioning themselves to become super human they forgot one important detail. Humans have desires and once the descendants learned of their home world, a place of great beauty and diversity unlike their spaceship home, they were intent on taking it as their own. They had arrived with the promise of peace, but when denied access to the Earth became violent and attacked. They didn’t understand that to us they were as alien as any non-indigenous life form and we had an obligation to protect our people. The result was a war that threatened to destroy the very thing we were fighting over, but as with my brothers in arms, I would rather die than give the Earth over to anyone. 

“Come on!” I shouted tiring of watching him stand there and stare at me. He had his blaster so the end should have been quick, but when I stumbled toward him and fell to the darkness that surrounded me the last thing I saw was his face above me. 

I had not expected to open my eyes much less find myself in a cave wrapped in blankets and warmed by a crackling fire. I was still so tired, but forced my mind to focus and found my leg had been dressed, I was mostly clean and there was a large hunk of meat roasting in the fire. It smelled a little funny, but my stomach was utterly devoid of sustenance, so I ignored the throbbing pain in my leg and crawled close enough to steal a meal. There was no sign of him nearby, but I didn’t care, he shouldn’t have left his supper where his prisoner could take it. 

I was about halfway through the meat and had drained most of a water flask that was lying in a pile of goods nearby before I noticed his shadow by the door. He was just standing there watching me which gave me the willies, but it occurred to me if he’d intended to kill me I’d be dead. 

“Who are you?” I demanded wiping the grease from my chin. He didn’t reply of course and I wondered if he spoke any English at all. “What do you intend to do?” I asked curious if I was to be taken back for interrogation. 

Again he didn’t speak, but he did come into the cave and I tensed when he approached, but all he did once there was drop a sack that I quickly recognized on the floor. It was my stuff so it was a given he knew where my little shelter was. I wondered how long he had been watching me while I dug through my things and groaned with relief when the med kit was present. 

“Why did you save me?” I asked though it was more just to ease the tension because he obviously didn’t have a clue what I was saying. “Not the brightest thing for an enemy soldier to do,” I grumbled downing a couple of pain pills. 

He watched me for a few minutes and I was made uneasy by the calm quality of his gaze, then he turned and walked back outside. I noted that it was night though I didn’t know the hour and felt the sweet call of sleep tugging at my mind, but just about the time I was dozing off he returned and dropped a huge hunk of what appeared to be the beast that attacked us on the floor. I stared at it for a moment, then glanced at the portion of meat I’d been chewing on and wretched. 

“Son of a bitch!” I rasped trying to keep my stomach from churning. “You cooked it?!” He was looking at me as if I’d lost my mind and though I understood the need for survival the thought of eating that vile creature made me ill. 

I tensed going so far as to scoot back toward my makeshift bed when he came close, but all he did was squat down and claim what was left of the meat for himself. He did sniff it uncertainly while he eyed me sideways, but shrugged and took a big bite despite my sour expression. That’s when I noticed the bandage on his side. At first I thought he’d been injured in the fight, but the binding was old, at least a week and he didn’t seem to need to favor it so it couldn’t have been fresh. 

“You’re stranded too,” I laughed causing him to cock a brow my way, but he kept chewing on his meal just the same. “Great,” I sighed laying back. “Maybe your suits in better shape than mine,” I yawned hoping that perhaps when I was able I could locate it and use it to repair my own. 

The next few days were very strange. We couldn’t talk to each other, so I was reduced to hand signals and charades to convey my thoughts. He was pretty much useless for anything other than meals or to change the dressing on my leg because as hard as I tried he just didn’t seem to want to communicate at all. Happily, the salve in my pack helped my leg heal quickly and soon I was able to stand and take care of myself. Had I realized this would prompt him to disappear I might have delayed educating him on the matter. I waited two days just to make sure he wasn’t coming back, then ventured out into the world on my own. 

He’d left me with enough food to keep me going for a little while and I wondered over his apparent kindness. No other Japon I’d ever come across had bothered with anything more than an attempt to eliminate me, so it was very curious the way he behaved. I thought perhaps he just didn’t want to be alone any more than I did, but his absence from my side negated that reasoning. I returned to my shelter for a couple of days hoping maybe he’d show up, but when he didn’t I set my sights on going home. 

My suit was pretty much wrecked, but there were components that still worked well enough to assume that if his was in any better shape I might be able to pull one of them together and get off that rock. However, when I arrived at the crash sight it was to find my suit had been stripped of anything of use and felt the old anger bubble and flex inside me. It took about five minutes of storming through the woods toward his cave before I stopped dead in my tracks and felt the bottom drop out of my world at the thought that he’d already flown the coop. 

“Hey!” I shouted ignoring my protesting leg while I climbed the slope to his cave. “Hey! Where are you!?” I shouted growing more frantic by the moment. He was my only hope of escape! He just had to be there! “Hey! Japon! Answer me!”

“Hai.”

The relief that filled me up upon hearing his voice shattered any delusions I had been harboring that the war mattered anymore. We were on our own for as long as we were stuck on that rock and suddenly all I wanted was to know I wasn’t alone. 

“Hi,” I smiled trying for casual, but the sweat on my brow betrayed me. He watched me for a time before walking toward the exit, but I moved to intercept. “Hey,” I breathed. “I saw you found my suit,” I tried growing frustrated with his lack of comprehension. “My suit,” I reiterated holding my hands as if they were on the controls. “You know?” I persisted making battle noises, but he just stood there staring. “Come on, man,” I sighed. “Work with me here.”

His brow fell crossly over his eyes, then he strode over to a bag by the wall and dumped the parts he’d taken from my suit at my feet. I didn’t get it until I looked up to find him storming quickly out the door. 

“Hey! Wait!” I called after him, but he was moving fast and I had a feeling if I didn’t stop him I’d never see him again. “Wait a minute!” I growled flinging myself on him when I got close enough because there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with my injured leg and we went down in a heap rolling to a stop in a sunlit patch of dusty leaves. 

“Sorry,” I grumbled trying to untangle myself, but he wasn’t helping much and when I looked up at him to see why my breath stopped altogether. 

He was just looking at me the way he always did, but there was something strange in his gaze, something foreign in the shift of his body, but I didn’t comprehend the odd expression until he slowly leaned down and kissed me gently on the mouth. I was so stunned I didn’t even react. All I could think was he appeared to want more from me than companionship and, oddly enough, that perfection of the human race apparently required androgyny. However, before I could pull my mind together his eyes shifted shining with brilliant shame and remorse before he was suddenly gone. 

“Wait!” I gasped trying to go after him, but my leg gave out. “Please,” I begged knowing if I had to spend the rest of my life alone on that moon I’d loose my mind completely. He paused at the sound of the anguish in my tone and turned back to look at me. “Don’t leave me here alone,” I entreated knowing that if he took me with him I’d almost certainly be killed, but even that was better than eternal solitude. A relief so profound I was devoid of even feeling shame over my actions settled upon me when he came to me an offered his hand. 

“Hiiro,” he said while he helped me steady myself. 

It was the smile on his lips that informed me it was his name, so I offered my own and replied, “Duo.”

We somehow ended up living in his cave. It was the better choice considering what prowled the forest in search of a meal. I was greatly relieved when he took me there and accepted me, though the fact that he was my enemy remained ever present in my mind. It was unclear why he allowed my encroachment at first, but after the first few days I understood his underlying need. It was unnerving the way his eyes followed me, but there was nothing in his manor that made me think he would harm me. That in itself bewildered me considering the viciousness I had endured from his kin, but whenever my mind shied in fear of his longing gaze I recalled the shadow of shame in his eyes when he kissed me. I had been his for the taking, already captured and completely unprotected, but instead of forcing me to his will he tried to run away. That was not the behavior of someone who was willing to force the issue. It confused me seeding in my heart the hope that I had somehow gotten stranded with someone capable of feeling compassion for others and casting doubt on what we, as a nation, had come to believe the Japon to be. 

They were descended from the ancient Japanese lines of Old Earth. Their ancestors had thought to save the changing landscape of their heritage enlisting the cooperation of only the purest lineage in an attempt to purify their race and create an elite species of human that would be free of sickness or weakness. Their partial success had in turn convinced the Japon that they were better than the people who still resided on their home world giving them the right to exterminate any who would not bow to their superiority. Or at least, that’s what I thought before meeting Hiiro. 

He was nothing like what I thought he should be. It was true his skills and strength went far beyond that of a natural, but though I bore witness to his physical perfection time and again during our banishment the brutal superiority I had come to expect from his people was all but absent in him. I was humbled by his physical prowess, but felt odd every time I saw the absence of conceit in his eyes. Don’t get me wrong, he was an arrogant bastard to be sure, but I came to understand the seed that made me assume he would be snobbish was my own insecurity. 

“What are you doing?” I deadpanned one day having found him hanging upside down in a tree some distance from our cave. 

“Careful,” he warned and though he spoke the word well enough his accent made what progress he’d made in learning English somewhat redundant. 

I paused having learned in the three months we’d been roommates to listen to what few words he spoke and tried to discern what he was up to. There was a vine wrapped around a thick tree trunk to my right that wound upward curling around the limb he was dangling from. The other end twirled around his left leg, then rounded his thigh where it was gripped in his right hand while his sharp, blue eyes watched the bushes to my left intently. 

“AH!” I barked having figured it out a moment too late when something furry burst from the bush straight at my head, but it never stood a chance. 

Hiiro was in motion the second it appeared attacking it with the vine while he fell on it and wrapped it tightly cutting off its air supply while it thrashed beneath him and I panted and stared in wide eyed shock until it finally lay still. 

“What…is that?” I gasped having missed getting a good look at it when my eyes popped out. 

“Dinner,” he grinned getting off to reveal an odd beast that somewhat resembled a large rabbit with a dogs head. 

I stood there watching him while he bled it and began to clean it until my mind came back around enough to deduce what had happened and I smacked him in the back of the head. 

“What is wrong with you!?” I growled while he backed away laughing, but he didn’t look sorry one bit. “You were using yourself as bait weren’t you!?” I snapped slapping at him and he giggled until I asked, “What in hell am I supposed to do if you get yourself eaten!?”

The mirth sort of drained away, but it left an amiable silence in its wake that I pouted through mightily, which helped me ignore the softness of his dark blue eyes. 

“Sorry,” he chuckled reaching out to take a bit of grass from my bangs. 

“You’re not invincible,” I was compelled to tell him turning away from the disturbing expression on his face to tend his catch. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find the meat both clean and tender. We’d managed to kill another of the spore hounds as I liked to call the massive predators that had brought us together, but though they provided ample meat there was no way to preserve it so most of it went to waist. This new creature was just the right size to feed us for a while without the meat going bad before we ran out. It also smelled a lot better, which helped my appetite immensely. 

We took what we had back to the cave after we tossed the caucus in a ravine to keep from attracting spore hounds. In the time we’d spent together we’d managed to find something better than stink fruit to round out our diet and added some of the cabbage like plants the burbles often dug up to the menu. There were also some berries leftover from the night before that resembled blackberries, but were mercifully barren of the tiny seeds related to such. These had large, centralized seeds that were easy enough to remove or spit out. Some water from a nearby stream washed everything down and we fell asleep with full bellies and smiles on our faces. 

Life was becoming easier on our little moon for two leaving us more time to relax and goof around. I’d even come up with a trap that worked well enough on the hoppers, the dog/rabbit things, so we had a ready supply of meat. This left more than ample time for me to get into trouble, which I have to admit I excel at. I was in the top of a tree one sunny afternoon getting ready to fly down the vine I’d strung up just for the fun of it when I spotted Hiiro in a clearing not far away. It was odd not because he was busying himself, but he appeared to be working on something that made me curious so I went to investigate. 

I had seen him in many different ways since we were stranded, but considering his nature, his strength and pride it just never occurred to me that he would engage in something as refined as painting. I don’t know where he got the pigment, but it looked like he’d made the paints himself probably from local foliage. I wasn’t really concerned with the composition of his medium though, and quietly stole my way into a position to get a peek at his work, which instantly made my head go numb. 

He was painting me. It was a good likeness too, but I was still trying to get my head around why he would want to paint me, then the image started to sink in. I’d never seen myself in that light before and swallowed the nervousness that rose in my throat. I’m not an artist, but I know enough to understand what I was seeing wasn’t necessarily what was really there. It was his interpretation of me and though it looked like me it hardly resembled who I believed myself to be. The person on that page had my face, but it was beautiful beyond reason and there was an expression in the eyes that made my chest tight. My mind flashed back on a moment when I laid beneath him and felt his lips upon mine and instantly understood. 

“You should have told me.”

I laughed my ass off when he jumped so hard his paints went flying, but he instinctively saved the skin he’d been painting on before turning startled eyes on me. 

“Sorry,” I chuckled noting that he was sort of cute when he looked ridiculous. 

“Duo,” he breathed trying to stay between me and my likeness, but I skirted around until he relented. 

“It’s nice,” I nodded feeling a smile tug at my mouth while I inspected it. 

“Sorry,” he sighed heavily looking so dejected I almost hugged him. 

“Are all Japon bisexual?”

He just sort of looked apologetic and confused because he wasn’t familiar with the meaning of the word until I indicated the painting and explained, “You want to touch me.”

His face turned very red while his eyes danced about and I discovered I wasn’t upset about it at all. “You…very beautiful,’ he mumbled making it very hard not to smile at his shyness. 

I looked at the painting and thought about it for a moment, then cocked my head and reiterated, “Are all Japon like you?”

He understood this time and scowled his embarrassment, then shook his head and sulked, but it only lasted until his brow creased and he asked, “Angry?”

I looked at the painting again trying to discern what it was he really felt and realized I was looking slightly down into my own eyes. I was under him in the painting, which pricked at things inside me waking feelings I’d never dreamed would fill my heart. I knew it was wrong, he was my enemy still, but there was no reason to believe we would ever leave our moon home, so I smiled and stepped closer embracing the here and now. 

“No,” I smiled letting it widen when his eyes grew round while I confessed, “But you’ve made me curious.”

“What?” he deadpanned trying so hard not to look at my body it was almost comical. 

I felt his breath rush in when I reached out and whispered, “This,” then kissed him sweetly, but the fear that he would reject me for whatever reason lingered beneath the action until his arms snaked around my waist and pulled me firmly to his side. “Mmmmm,” I moaned loving how it felt to be lifted in his arms, then he was carrying me toward a thick tuff of grass where he laid me down and answered all my questions about what his heart desired. 

His strength is impressive, but though I had seen evidence of it time and again I wasn’t prepared for the feeling that coursed through me when he laid his hands on my body. I could sense it in his fingertips, that underlying power that frightened Earthbound humans so much, but he touched me with such gentle care I was left craving more. It wasn’t hard for me to accept him as a lover since I had been aware of my sexuality for some time, but the fact that he was Japon lingered in my mind. I was essentially sleeping with the enemy, but there was no underlying urge to know his secrets, only the basic need to feel him next to me and know the honest power of his touch. 

Our lives had changed again, but we were becoming less distraught over our situation every day. Being cut off from our origins was hard for us, but at the same time it allowed us to pursue feelings that would never had come to light if we were forced to remain enemies. Outside our little moon the war raged on while our people tried desperately to determine the balance of power, but Hiiro and I had found a balance between us. 

He was strong and dependable, but tended to fly off the handle, which was displayed one day when a spore hound got close enough to injure my thigh and Hiiro summarily crushed its skull barehanded. I’d never seen that sort of rage in a Japon before, not even when we were in the thick of battle, but couldn’t deny the divine enlightenment of being humbled by the fact that he’d done it for me. We made love for a very long time that day and spent the evening doting over each other. 

It was up to me to keep him from throwing himself in the fire more often than not. It seemed like he was forever getting himself in one mess after another, but I didn’t figure it out for awhile. At first I thought he was just thick headed or bat shit crazy because he kept pulling stunts like using himself as bait for the hoppers, but after awhile I realized he was doing it to show off. I started rewarding him for smaller, less dangerous things after that and the crazy stunts slowly eased off. 

We had put six months behind us when the unthinkable happened late one sunny afternoon while we were foraging for fruits and vegetables in the forest. My heart almost leaped out my mouth when I heard the tell tale sound of an approaching ion engine and I saw the question in my mind in Hiiro’s suddenly animated expression. He didn’t seem to know what face to show me, then we both looked up and my chest tightened with fear while we watched a Japon fighter zoom by. There was no doubt they knew we were there since their suits were equipped with superior hardware. They probably knew how fast my heart was beating when Hiiro broke and jerked me by the arm leading me deep into the heart of the forest. We didn’t stop until the fighter had circled back around and he shoved me into a small hallow in a thicket, which was when I figured out he meant to leave me there.

“NO!” I hissed gripping him tightly while tears stung at my eyes. 

“Stay!” he hissed looking over his shoulder in the direction the fighter had gone, but I didn’t understand and the terror of being left behind alone outweighed the fear of being captured. 

“Please!” I pleaded low unwilling to jeopardize his safety as well as my own. “Don’t leave me!”

He was almost as frantic as I was and lunged forward to kiss me soundly before he looked me dead in the eye and commanded, “Trust me!”

Then he was gone and I was too scared to break cover because there were two of his kin emerging from the other side of the clearing. I had learned enough of his language to understand that they were his subordinates in some way because they showed him a great deal of respect. When questioned about the presence of another he got snippy with them claiming their instruments must have malfunctioned and though I could tell they didn’t believe him they weren’t willing to call him on it, then my entire world imploded while I watched them walk away. 

I didn’t know how to feel or what to do until I saw the fighter lift into the sky and head for breakaway, then I burst forth desperate to follow, but there was no way. He was gone and I was left all alone. Depression set in pretty quickly, but my desperation to find a way off the moon overshadowed it. However, I didn’t find much of use in his things and the parts he’d taken from my suit weren’t enough to repair his. We’d tried many times to make something work and failed, but I couldn’t stop myself from trying again. 

I worked on it day and night for over a week before reality set in and I realized I was stranded alone with no way of escape. _”Trust me.”_ His words came back to me time and again haunting my sleep and waking hours alike, but though I knew he didn’t want to leave me sometimes things don’t go as planned. I imagined all sorts of things from his being found out and imprisoned or even killed for helping me to their ship having been attacked on the way out by my peers and destroyed, so it was a monumental relief when I heard the sound of an engine early one morning while I was resetting the hopper trap. 

“Hiiro!” I gasped having been unable to hide myself when I saw him. 

He was coming out of a transport that probably housed a mobile suit in the cargo bay and there were three Japon soldiers behind him, but he was smiling as bright as the sun and opening his arms so I flew into them as fast as I could. 

“You came back,” I breathed holding him tight enough to bruise, but he was wrapped firmly around me as well. 

“Hai,” he breathed and I felt the relief in him break free. “Sorry,” he offered easing off enough to wipe the moisture from the corner of my eye. 

“What happened?” I asked considering the way the soldiers were averting their eyes 

“Long story,” he chuckled, then kissed me so softly I almost forgot our company. 

He took me away right that moment leaving what remained of our beginning to the spore hounds. I expected to be imprisoned, but was allowed to stay by Hiiro’s side, which gave him an opportunity to explain that he was no mere grunt like myself. There were only about twenty thousand Japon, though one of them was easily a match for a regiment of naturals making them a realistic threat to the citizens of Earth. However, because of their limited numbers they were hopelessly dependent upon protocol each following orders even unto the death and Hiiro just happened to be the man in charge. 

“You what?” I deadpanned unable to believe what he was telling me. 

“We surrender,” he smiled seeming quite content with the fact while he nibbled on my fingers. 

“Why?” I breathed both in awe of the event as well at the fact that he was giving me a woody. He just smiled and kissed me and my head almost exploded. “For me!?” I gasped totally rocked off kilter that he would do that. 

“Us,” he corrected gazing at me with such calm felicity I settled in spite of myself. 

“Isn’t that a betrayal of your people?” I grumbled, but couldn’t muster up the anger I should have felt over it. 

“No,” he chuckled pulling me closer. “We were wrong,” he explained kissing my hand again, which sent a hot flash down my spine. “You are good,” he surmised including my peers in is assessment of me. “We will show them we are good too.”

“They’re afraid of you,” I reminded him. 

“But we have much to offer,” he countered backing it up by sending a hot flash all over my body while he nibbled my ear and neck. 

He had a point. Naturals were easy to scare, but if it meant there was something in it they wanted it wouldn’t be hard to gain their trust. I might have had a problem with it if I’d never met Hiiro, but he’d shown me that the Japon weren’t the arrogant supremists we thought them to be. Even the soldiers that attended him were kind in the extreme, though their gentle ways were overshadowed by an inner strength I knew could be a formidable force when antagonized. 

He took me to their lead ship where I was welcomed instantly as his mate. It was incredible how easily his people took me into their hearts, but they seemed to trust him implicitly and he was so obviously head over heals in love it just stood to reason. Their eagerness to care for me and make me feel at home unsettled me for awhile until I started to comprehend taking over Earth was never their goal. They were children of the Earth and no matter now far removed they longed for a place to return to. We denied them that basic right because we feared their power and superior strength, but with Hiiro’s help and conviction they had come to a place where they were willing to prove their worth and earn their right to return home.

I’m nobody special to the cause, but when the leaders of Earth discovered the head of the Japon had taken an Earthling lover things got a little hairy for awhile. It took some time, but I managed to convince them that I was there of my own free will, which went a long way to endearing the Japon as a race to the masses on the ground. They had surrendered, but kept their independent standing setting their ships in an acceptable orbit that would serve as their base while they were slowly integrated into the ground population. 

I missed Earth, but being anywhere without Hiiro wasn’t an option for me anymore. Fortunately, because of Hiiro’s status we spent time on the ground negotiating and bartering for ground time for the Japon. The naturals were skeptical at first, but once they learned of the Japon’s willingness to share technology they eased off in favor of gaining what knowledge they could. Hiiro’s people were restricted in many ways because of their superior strength, but that also eased off over time when their gentle nature was discovered. They could be as fierce as lions when provoked though, so it was necessary to segregate them from the masses unless strictly supervised. 

Nothing had turned out the way either of us thought it would, but we were happy with how things were going. I certainly never thought being stranded on a random moon would lead to a peace treaty and the eventual acceptance that he and his people belonged with us. They were the children of our ancestors and had every right to live their lives enjoying the richness that Mother Earth had to offer. 

“What is it?” Hiiro asked having caught onto my melancholy mood while we gazed out the large window that was set in the wall of our cabin aboard his ship. 

I looked out at the Earth in all her magnificent glory set so brilliantly against the velvet black sky and sighed drawing his arms around my still cooling body. “I wonder,” I mused closing my eyes when his breath warmed the tender skin of my neck. “What might have happened if we hadn’t met on that moon.”

He laughed, which made me curious enough to turn to face him, but it didn’t help enlighten me. “What?” I chuckled not getting the joke. 

“I’m glad I stayed,” he smiled leaning in to kiss me, but the comment set uneasily in my mind and I pushed him away. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked while my suspicions grew when his eyes reflected a guilty conscience. 

“Actually,” he said seeing that I wasn’t going to relent until I got an explanation. “I went in search of your suit when you crashed on the moon.” 

“You weren’t shot down like me?” I asked realizing I had assumed he had without ever asking. 

“No,” he replied scratching at the back of his head nervously, which prompted me to sit up while he confessed, “I went in to neutralize survivors,” he confessed adding when my eyes went cross, “But when I saw you…I couldn’t.”

“What about your suit?!” I snipped growing angrier by the moment. 

He was reluctant to answer, but the hound doggish quality of his eyes helped keep me from smacking him when he revealed, “I…disabled it.”

“You…!!” I gasped growling when he nabbed my wrists and buried me beneath him in our bed. “We could have left anytime!” I grumbled turning my head to deny him the kiss he wanted. 

“Yes,” he said nibbling my neck in lieu of my mouth. “But…you were there,” he smiled gazing down on me with such adoration my anger bled away. “And all that awaited us was a war I was no longer willing to fight.”

“Because of me?” I asked stunned by the very idea. 

“Because you proved naturals weren’t the heartless monsters we thought they were,” he explained kissing the corner of my mouth, which never failed to send a tremor coursing through me. “And,” he smiled pressing the weight of his increasingly excited hips into mine, “That you needed us.”

“I need you,” I agreed on a wisp of air that fanned the flames in his eyes. 

I understood what he was saying, that all human beings need each other no matter what their differences might be. They were sent into the farthest reaches of space to become the epitome of what humankind could be only to discover what they wanted most was to be with their kin. Hiiro was perfect in every way, he was strong, good and brave, but he had discovered the same thing I did on that lonely, little moon. Without each other we were incomplete. 

“Hiiro,” I gasped when he joined us together and all at once I felt whole because he was as close to me as he could possibly get. 

He was inside me, moving within my blood and embedded in my heart and I knew as I gazed up at him in all his magnificent glory what I’d found was something more precious than all the treasures in the universe. I was there between the sapphire stripes of his eyes wandering the landscape of his mind, so deep within him I could feel his heartbeat and breathe the rapturous embrace of his soul and I knew with unequivocal certainty whatever happened, wherever we went and whoever we became I would be forever lost in his beautiful eyes. 

owari :)

**Author's Note:**

> Write it, draw it, create it, sing it, SHARE IT. ~ Sunhawk 2019


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